Authors: Alexandra Hope
“Whatevers in your diary, I probably don't care about,” said Troy as he pushed himself off the wall.
“It's not my diary, you idiot! It's Felicity's. She's a nineteen year old girl with a crazy appetite for human blood and would kill anyone to get it. Platinum blonde hair, cold blue eyes....maybe you've seen her, cause she's definitely seen you.”
“What?” There was a blankness in Troy's voice as he started for Noah. Noah met him before he could take more than a few steps and handed the diary to him. Troy didn't bother asking for the key as he tore away the tiny lock and flipped through the pages. Numbers and dates were scrawled across each page in red ink, faded to near oblivion but Troy was able to see them clearly.
“What is this?”
“I don't know what the first couple of pages are, but if you wanted my honest opinion, I would say her number of kills and the days when they happened. She didn't just hurt people for their blood, she was a true killer.”
Troy continued to flip through the pages with urgency. “And what did you say she looked like?”
“Platinum blonde,” was all Noah managed to get out before Troy turned away and began pacing back and forth. His eyes were studying the words and his eyebrows were pulled in as he got deeper into the book.
I think it's those eyes. I feel like I've seen them before.
“The girl from the blood drive...has been tracking me?”
“She's been tracking Alexa. Apparently, she loved her or at least that's what it seems like...I never knew,” he said with a shrug.
Troy had been almost overwhelmed by the amount of detail she had on him and the number of times she had visited his house and his father's. Each date and every minute detail was explicitly written along with notes on how she had been feeling day after day and kill after kill. She had briefly lamented the deaths of those she killed and seemed to seek reprieve from Alexa, writing down how close she had come to talking to her before running back into the shadows when Troy showed up.
The Matriarch wants me to kill Alexa, but I couldn't possibly...
was the last thing written before it ended.
“There's nothing else??” asked Troy, finally looking up from the pages.
“Nothing.”
“Does Olivia know about this?”
“No, and I'd rather she not, so keep it to yourself,” he said. “I thought it might be of some help for you to understand the kind of life we were made to live. Felicity is what Olivia could've been.” He shuttered. “She's what any of us could've been if we didn't have someone to care about us. She freely admitted to killing tons of people after Alexa left and since me and Olivia pushed Alexa to leave, I'm pretty sure she blames us both and hates our guts and would probably dismember us in cruel ways if we weren't who we are in the colony.”
“And who are you in the colony?”
“The Matriarch's second in command's son. My mom stole the blood from hospitals, the clothes from stores, money from banks....everything to give us this kind of life. Felicity's mom is the lawyer who keeps our secrets and her dad is an architect. We have a whole functioning society and we take Vampire equivalent classes...”
Noah went on and then spoke some more of Felicity to give Troy some solace despite being shaken by what he discovered. Troy understood loving someone that you couldn't have and inwardly hating the other person, but to put that person in danger, now that was something else. He asked more about Felicity and realized that's who Alexa had been talking about when he spoke of his recklessness. Hours passed and they found themselves drifting onto another topic as Troy relaxed and Noah sipped some water.
“Let me ask you a question. If Olivia chose to fight her mom, would you be there with her? Would you protect her?” asked Noah. He then added, “Without Erika forcing you.”
After a small moment of hesitation, he spoke up. “Yeah, I guess I would.”
“Would you seriously? After she killed Alexa?”
Troy's abdomen tightened at the words, but still he nodded. “Yeah.”
There was a brief silence between the two guys and from it came an unfamiliar sound. They hadn't heard Olivia's footsteps when she came down the stairs or heard Bear scamper off at her arrival but when the sound of laughter rang in their ears Troy turned to it and Noah dropped his glass of water.
“Crap,” he muttered as he fell to the ground to pick up the shards.
There was a pause in the laughter and then it continued. Troy was already out of the kitchen, walking through the dining room and across the foyer to the living room. His feet slid across the floor as if he had been tethered to the cheerful sound that escaped her mouth, entranced by it. When he reached the living room, he perched himself against the frame of the entryway and was astounded by the sight before him. Olivia had sat back on the arm of the couch and held the puppy at arm's length as it barked happily and rolled his tongue out. His long tongue swept across the insides of her wrist, dampening her skin and her face was lit up like Christmas morning each time she felt the jolt travel through her veins. He could barely see the color of her eyes through the now tiny slits but he thought he saw, if even for a moment, Alexa lying back in giggles. She looked carefree as if in a matter of weeks she had shed her cold exterior and became something more, but to Noah she had just devolved and was once again what she had always been: Human.
It took a few raps at the door to pull Olivia away from what held her attention but she didn't rise to answer it. She raised her head ever so slightly and caught sight of Noah standing there with wide eyes and Troy turning away. He pulled the door open and his father stepped in, giving a quick nod to him and then spoke to Noah.
“You must be Noah Anderson?”
He was smoothing out his red and blue tie with one hand while he awaited a response.
“Another
kitsune
?” asked Noah with no harshness in his voice, only curiosity.
David shook his head. “I'm only human.”
Noah couldn't tell if there was pride behind those words or a stab of sadness at the realization of how ordinary he was. That made him think about his own plight, of being just a human around a vampire and powerful, fire wielding fox beings. Still, there was an air about this man, that really did look exactly like Troy, that made him easier to like—certainly a lot more than Erika. There was something about him that made Noah gravitate towards him, especially since he had bags of food in hand, which Troy always seemed to be in short supply of.
Night had fallen and Olivia left a sleeping Bear on the couch as she went and zipped up a dark jacket by the door. Noah had immersed himself in food and conversation with David and she was halfway out the door when Troy stopped her.
“Where are you going?” he tried to ask in a non-abrasive manner but couldn't help the anger that lived within every word directed at her.
“I must feed. I haven't for three days.”
Troy thought back to three days ago when Noah volunteered his blood up and as if reading his thoughts, she answered.
“I cannot feed from him anymore.”
“So better to take the blood of someone who is unwilling?” he asked in shocked irritation. He leaned in and fell deeper into a whisper, unaware that he had been whispering the whole time. “You have no control, you—”
“I have not killed Noah.”
“That's because you had two
kitsunes
there to protect him.”
She had slipped the rest of her body through the door but he tugged on her sleeve before she could get far. Instinctively, her eyes met his and the glaciers within them had melted but not quite warmed up as they looked into her fiery ones.
“I'll come with you then.”
“I did not ask you to come,” she said, defiantly.
“It's a good thing I'm not asking,” he said as he closed the door behind him.
Olivia ran through the town with Troy just a few steps behind. He had been pressing his hands on benches and flipping over them, tumbling to the ground and picking up speed again as he ran. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, the way he bounced from rooftop to rooftop and leaped into the unknown. It felt like a stab in her heart. She kept stopping to whip her head around every time she felt that odd sensation within her body and politely asked him to stop when he came near her.
They had finally made it to the hospital and Troy told her to wait outside. Under the blue and white lights, she sat amongst the humans shuffling in and out of the hospital; on crutches, in wheelchairs, with balloons and flowers and even babies. Her senses were overstimulated by the sight rather than the smell. Despite how weakened some had been, she had never seen so much life before, especially when her eyes fell on a baby just a few days old. She thought about the life the woman had given birth to and what that child had the potential of becoming but before she could get lost in such thoughts she finally caught the smell of blood. She saw someone being ushered in and turned away to withhold her thirst, mentally urging Troy along. He emerged with a woman dressed in scrubs and Olivia popped up in front of them in a flash. When he asked her to leave it to him, she didn't expect that he would procure a live human for her and she wondered if his conscience was still functioning properly.
He looked in the woman's eyes and began speaking softly and when he was done, the woman willingly walked further away from the hospital with them to a dark and empty corner. Olivia's fangs elongated and her eyes remained clear as she forced her fangs through the woman's flesh. It was out of place for him and they both felt uncomfortable but Troy coached her along, keeping her out of her bloodlust and focused on taking only what she needed. His words were exactly what she needed to stay grounded and when she drew back, her eyes were full of appreciation when she looked at him. She licked the blood from her mouth and after biting into her own skin, used her blood to seal the woman's bite marks. Troy stole away the woman's memories of the feeding and they walked her back to work.
Olivia felt a twinge in her brain as they headed toward the house and Troy tried to inquire about it but she waved it away as nothing. She didn't think that she needed to tell them about the pains she had been having because she knew they must have been a gateway to the nightmares and if she bore the pain, maybe the nightmares would come back.
As Troy showered, he couldn't help but feel disgusted at what he allowed himself to do. There was no reasoning his actions and yet he easily agreed when she asked him to do it again the next night. Noah was at the door in dark skinny pants and a light gray vest over a white dress shirt he had picked up from a shop. He was adamant about going with them, annoyed that they had snuck off together in the first place. Erika just laughed at him and called him ridiculous among other things and when Olivia requested that he not come, he took a seat next to Erika. She called back to them before they left the house.
“Be quick with whatever you're doing, I want to train at the lake later.”
Troy nodded and closed the door then she turned to Noah. “You know what they're gonna do right?”
“What?”
“Each other,” she said with a huge grin.
Noah shook his head and laughter spilled out of Erika's mouth. “You walked right into that one.”
Troy suddenly felt sick after he waved a man down who was sitting on a park bench. He went in under the guise of asking for directions then gave him a calming speech before Olivia came up behind him and bit down. Troy watched as the man swayed dizzily and the blood was drained from him.
“Olivia....” he warned.
She still had her fangs deep within him and could barely hear what Troy was saying. He pulled her off of the man and he fell to his knees, unconscious. Troy didn't have time to give her a dirty look and instead took her pocket knife and cut his wrist. She watched in awe at how his blood was able to heal the man and bring him back to consciousness. The man took in a long and exaggerated breath and began puffing it out as he looked around, scared. Troy looked into his eyes and told him everything would be alright and when he was done, sent him on his way.
“I'm...” she began.
“Don't,” his voice was soft. “Just realize how little self control you have and continue to work with Erika until you've learned how to be a better vampire.”
She wiped the blood away and nodded.
When they arrived at the lake, Erika greeted them with fire but had been more focused on getting Troy to manipulate fire than to get Olivia to fight. No matter how close she came to threatening his existence, he couldn't seem to get a single spark going and after noticing this, she stopped. He had gotten better at evading her and for the first time, emerged from the fight without a single scar, but then he figured she may have just been going easy on him.
“Not bad,” she said.
He nodded as his chest heaved up and down with every heavy breath he took. “Yeah, you didn't kill me.”
“But I was definitely trying too.”
“I know.”
Olivia's eyes were on Troy for a minute, making sure that he was alright and then they traveled to Noah who was sitting at the edge of the pier, splashing at the water in frustration. She started toward him but stopped when she heard Erika speaking to Troy. “Fox fire comes from our emotions. When you hear people explain passion it's always talked about as something fiery, so fox fire is simply passion...it can come from immense love or immense hate but there has to be something driving it. It can't just come from nowhere.”